This is an extremely long article so I wont post it here… If you are into “Power Solutions” it is a must-read. Currently, I am working on a design for a distributed renewable energy platform. I love this stuff… As you read through the article, you will see that this is a truly Global issue. Solutions that we develop, will truly contribute to the well being of every creature on this earth. I am passionate about this topic and I love to share information that may forward solutions.

January 1, 2012

U.S. Confronts Pipeline Gaps While Europe Juggles Renewables and Debt.
By Kennedy Maize, Charles Butcher, and Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

U.S. optimism has been restored by reports of abundant, reasonably priced natural gas to fuel most new generation; however, huge gaps in the fuel delivery system (thousands of miles of pipelines are needed) will soon challenge gas plant development. Meanwhile, the cloud of sovereign debt hangs over all major capital projects in Europe, where the UK moves ahead with new nuclear projects while many of its neighbors shut the door on nuclear and struggle to finance their commitment to renewables.

6 page article found at: http://www.powermag.com/issues/cover_stories/U-...

This is very cool stuff.

Curved microfluidic devices that self-assemble

(Nanowerk Spotlight) Conventional microfluidic devices are fabricated in inherently planar, block-like devices. In contrast, an important feature of naturally self-assembled systems such as leaves and tissues is that they are curved and have embedded fluidic channels that enable the transport of nutrients to, or removal of waste from, specific three-dimensional regions.

Since most microfluidic devices are created using layer-by-layer lithographic patterning and molding methods, it is challenging to create microfluidic networks in curved or folded geometries. However, such networks are important to pattern chemicals in 3D and also to create realistic models of tissues.
David H. Gracias and his team at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) have now demonstrated, for the first time, a strategy to self-assemble curved and folded microfluidic polymeric devices with materials used in conventional planar, microfluidics namely SU8 and PDMS. They report their findings in the November 8, 2011 online edition of Nature Communications (“Differentially photo-crosslinked polymers enable self-assembling microfluidics”).

Examples of self-assembling microfluidic devices. Left: Fluorescence images showing the flow of fluorescein (green)/rhodamine B (red) through single and dual channel devices, respectively. Right: A hybrid SU-8/PDMS microfluidic device was self-assembled using a CLG-containing SU-8 layer to curve an underlying PDMS channel. (Reprinted with permission from Nature Publishing Group)

“From an fundamental perspective, we show how stress gradients can be created in thin polymer films using photo-crosslinking and conditioning to allow them to reversibly curve/fold and flatten when wet or dry,” Gracias explains to Nanowerk. “This reversibility can also be achieved on immersion in water and organic solvents.”

The idea of differential crosslinking to achieve curvature or folding is new; previously, researchers have shown that bilayers with two different polymers can be utilized, but the JHU team’s methodology uses a single material and provides considerable flexibility in the type and extent of curvature that can be created by varying the intensity and direction of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light.

Although stresses in polymeric films are often undesirable, Gracias and his team developed a strategy to create a photopatternable stress gradient in these materials so that the films reversibly and reproducibly curved on solvent exchange between water and acetone.

“We controlled the extent and directionality of curvature by varying the ultraviolet exposure energy and direction” says Mustapha Jamal, a graduate student in Gracias’ group and first author of the paper. “We could curve rectangular SU-8 structures with radii of curvature as small as 80 µm and with bidirectional curvature. We also developed a multilayer patterning scheme to integrate PDMS-based microfluidic networks with these SU-8 films and realize the self-assembly of curved microfluidic networks.”

The team found that the radii of curvature of conditioned SU-8 films were dependent on several controllable processing parameters: mostly ultraviolet exposure energy and film thickness, and to a lesser degree film aspect ratio and post-exposure bake temperature. By controlling these parameters, they were able to fabricate desired curved patterns.

In order to self-assemble microfluidic devices, the researchers used the SU-8 templates as a support layer to curve thicker polymeric films like PDMS. Gracias notes that the overall thickness of the SU-8/PDMS devices that the team fabricated was less than 40 µm, and they were built using planar microfabrication techniques. “We could therefore pattern multiple devices in parallel and with high resolution.”

An illustration of a self-assembling microfluidic device with PDMS inlets/outlets attached to a Si substrate and with PDMS channels integrated with a differentially crosslinked SU-8 film. (Reprinted with permission from Nature Publishing Group)

This novel approach addresses a host of problems such as the challenge of creating 3D reconfigurable metamaterials, electronic circuits, polymeric actuators and tissue scaffolds.

“Our methodology can be utilized to create reconfigurable curved and flexible metamaterials which change their optical properties in response to different stimuli,” explains Gracias. “Since our approach is compatible with planar lithography methods, we have incorporated optical elements such as split ring resonators which have unique optical resonances. Alternatively, other optical modules or electronic circuits could also be incorporated.”

Since many hydrogels can be photopolymerized, this methodology of differential cross-linking can be used to create stress gradients in these materials. Gracias’ team are now planning to create biodegradeable vascularized tissue scaffolds using this approach.
By Michael Berger. Copyright © Nanowerk

Found at: http://www.powermag.com/nuclear/Siemens-Joins-T...
November 1, 2011

Siemens Joins Trend to Quit Nuclear
By Sonal Patel

The number of companies pulling out of the nuclear business continues to grow. Just weeks after Louisiana-based engineering firm The Shaw Group announced it would sell its 20% stake in the nuclear company Westinghouse back to partner Toshiba, German engineering conglomerate Siemens said that, prompted by the German government’s decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022, it would quit the nuclear business. And in late September, UK company Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) also said it may pull out of a joint venture with France’s GDF Suez and Spain’s Iberdrola to build a new nuclear power plant in West Cumbria, in northwest England, citing extended cost and development issues relating to new nuclear reactors.

Siemens built all of Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants. CEO Peter Löscher told German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel that, compelled by the Fukushima nuclear accident and its effect on German politics, the company would shut down all nuclear operations—including building any new power plants—and focus on the rapidly growing renewables sector. Alfons Benzinger, spokesman for Siemens Energy, however, told POWER in October that the company will continue to make conventional steam turbines to be used for nuclear plants and other conventional plants.

3. End of an era. Siemens, the German conglomerate that spearheaded nuclear technology development through the 1970s and 80s, is quitting its nuclear businesses, a decision shaped by the Fukushima crisis, which in turn prompted the German government‘s decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022. The company built all 17 nuclear plants in Germany. A Siemens worker is shown here fitting the blades of a low-pressure turbine. Courtesy: Siemens

The German powerhouse’s decision to shed its nuclear businesses isn’t abrupt. Siemens spearheaded nuclear technology development through the 1970s and 1980s, but it began restructuring its reactor-making arm in 2001, when it merged that division, taking a minority 34% share, with French company Framatome—now known as AREVA NP. Framatome and Siemens developed the EPR in the 1990s before forming a joint entity (Figure 4). But that partnership ended in early 2009 when Siemens sold its share to AREVA, citing a “lack of exercising entrepreneurial influence within the joint venture” as the reason behind the move.

4. A product of past efforts. Siemens and Framatome, a company now known as AREVA, developed the third-generation EPR reactor that is currently under construction in Finland, France, and China. The two EPRs under construction at Taishan in China are on schedule. Unit 1 is expected to be operational in December 2013 and Unit 2, in October 2014. This image shows a crane lifting the reactor building liner. Courtesy: Sofinel

Later in 2009, Siemens signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian state atomic energy utility Rosatom for the creation of a new nuclear joint venture that planned to push forward with development, marketing, and construction of Russia’s pressurized water reactor (VVER) technology—an agreement that was all but fruitless. This September, Rosatom inked an agreement with the UK’s Rolls-Royce (as part of a UK-Russia civil nuclear cooperation pact) to make use of that company’s large nuclear supply chain, including consultant activities, and manufacturing and technical engineering support. Rolls-Royce will also likely provide safety-critical instrumentation and control systems—as it has to all 58 operating nuclear facilities in France.

Providing safety-critical instrumentation and control systems for new reactors was part of Siemens’ specialist business unit, and the firm was also a specialist provider of the “conventional island” of new nuclear power plants. But, as World Nuclear News noted, most reactor vendors typically work with a regular partner or supply themselves for conventional island work: AREVA pairs with Alstom, for example; GE-Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries supply themselves; Westinghouse works with several suppliers, including its owner Toshiba; and state-owned companies like Rosatom and South Korea’s KEPCO offer contracts to domestic firms. This has left the conglomerate with no defined partner for new nuclear builds—another factor that may have played into the firm’s decision to withdraw from nuclear activities altogether.

SSE—which has over 11 GW of coal, gas, and hydropower plants, as well as wind farms, across the UK and Ireland—had in October 2009 announced plans with GDF and Iberdrola to build a 3.6-GW nuclear plant near Sellafield, West Cumbria via a 25% stake in the NuGeneration joint venture. Those plans were buoyed by the UK government’s pending approval of eight sites for new nuclear builds—a strategy to ensure reliability because about a quarter of the country’s generation capacity is set to expire in the next decade as older reactors reach the end of their lives and coal plants are closed to meet European Union pollution standards. The company spent £19.5 million ($30.5 million) to secure the option to buy land for the development.

But SSE has since invested billions of pounds over the past two years in renewable projects, including the massive 350-MW land-based Clyde wind farm and the 500-MW Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm. SSE said in a statement in September that its decision to pull out of the nuclear joint venture was based on concerns relating to the “the cost, development issues, timetable and operational efficacy of nuclear power stations [that] all require the greatest possible scrutiny before a commitment to invest in new nuclear power stations can be made.” For the time being, the utility’s resources “are better deployed on business activities and technologies where it has the greatest knowledge and experience,” it said.

The Shaw Group’s decision to sell its stake in Westinghouse to Toshiba was prompted by a surge in its yen-dominated debt by almost $600 million to a total of $1.7 billion since its acquisition of Westinghouse in 2006. Paying off that debt increase would wipe out the expected gain from the stake sale—estimated at $545 million at the end of August—but it would leave the company with virtually no debt, the company said. The firm is expected to continue working with Westinghouse in the deployment and commercialization of the third-generation AP1000 reactors currently under construction in China and the state of Georgia, however.

Chappy, These major new solutions to clean up the environment always sound good when reading the published material put out by the scientist inventors. This helps them get US Government funding to proceed with their projects. However, there are always ‘catches’ they don’t mention except when they submit the formal proposal that allows them to insure a steady stream of future funding! I haven’t looked too deeply into this carbon sequestration method, but when you mentioned they have to add hydrogen to create gasoline, it brings up the question as to how much energy is required to create the hydrogen! Making hydrogen (and I’m sure it will have to be as pure as what’s needed for fuel cells!) is a very energy-intensive procedure.

Recycling Air Pollution
In a process they call “Closing the Carbon Loop,” Stanford University researchers have developed a means to recover CO2. Using a polymer originally created to purify water, they literally catch gas from the air. To recover the carbon, they simply wet the plastic and catch the bubbles, as seen in this video. They estimate that a device the size of a large tree could remove approximately one ton of carbon daily. Once the gas is recovered, they add hydrogen to it and create gasoline. Thus they create a closed loop — cars use gasoline to create CO2, their emissions are recovered to make more gasoline, and so on, and so on.

Plastic “Tree” Uses Biomimicry to Convert Atmospheric CO2 into Green Gasoline
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/131Wh)

Recycling has always meant reusing materials like glass or plastic, and reducing atmospheric carbon has traditionally meant cutting emissions, but what if the two could be combined and make combating climate change profitable by recycling carbon out of the atmosphere?

EnergyNOW! correspondent Josh Zepps looked into a new technology that could pull a thousand times more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere than trees and could one day power our cars and trucks with green gasoline. The full video is available below:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/27163710

Most efforts to capture and sequester (CCS) carbon focus on smokestack emissions, but prohibitive costs and unproven technology make this type of carbon reduction unlikely to succeed. In addition, CCS technology can only cut back on new pollution, which fails to address the billions of tons of carbon already in the atmosphere.

These problems need to be solved quickly in order to slow the effects of climate change and move to a clean energy economy. “We know the Earth is getting hotter, the ice caps are starting to melt, the weather patterns are changing,” said Ken Caldeira, an atmospheric scientist with the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University. “This transition to a renewable or carbon neutral energy system could easily take 50 or 100 years, even if we started working on it hard today, which we’re not doing.”

To solve this quandry, two scientists from Columbia University’s Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy took inspiration from trees and invented a plastic “tree” that absorbs carbon at a much higher rate than Mother Nature.

The idea employs biomimicry by deploying small-scale units of “trees” to soak up more CO2 than real trees, wherever you might need them. “You can remove CO2 anywhere you want, and it can deal with emissions from anywhere else on the planet,” said Allen Wright, a scientist at the Lenfest Center. “There’s no real major discovery or invention that has to happen that would prevent us from deploying that technology tomorrow.”

But beyond just removing CO2 from the atmosphere, the new technology could also turn it into a valuable commodity. Carbon reduction methods often go hand-in-hand with an increase in costs, either through new equipment, or by assessing a fee on emissions. But what if captured carbon could become an economic benefit?

The new technology could serve the existing market for CO2, in enhanced oil recovery, to grow algae for biofuels, in plastic manufacturing, or even in soda – and it could also replace oil-based gasoline. “You can add hydrogen to those (captured) carbon atoms and re-create gasoline,” said Klaus Lackner, a scientist at the Lenfest Center. “It has a zero net impact on the environment because you’re taking the carbon out that burning the gasoline will put in.”

Lackner calls this approach closing the carbon loop because atmospheric carbon can be converted to gasoline, fuel vehicles without drilling for oil, and then collected once again by the “trees.”

But as with all potential energy breakthroughs, it faces two challenges: economics and regulations. The Lenfest researchers expect to be able to sell CO2 to industry for as little as $30 a ton, but they say a tax on carbon dioxide emissions would push up the price of gasoline by about 25 cents a gallon, expand the market for their product, and bring their invention from demonstration to deployment.

Found at: http://www.softwareceo.com/article/43579/How-to...CEO-Hesky-Kutscher/;jsessionid=7CDC6B6C08C28D6F37A406AE3C0F7E59

How to Raise Money When You Have Only an Idea: Advice from MotherKnows CEO Hesky Kutscher

by Bruce Hadley, SoftwareCEO Founder

In July, Mountain View, Calif.-based developer MotherKnows raised $1.7 in seed capital from several investors.
What makes this interesting — for entrepreneurs, anyway — is not the amount of money; there are certainly bigger deals out there. No, the interesting part is that Hesky Kutscher and Greg Goff, who co-founded MotherKnows in late 2010, got this very tangible vote of confidence on little more than an idea.

What makes this interesting — for entrepreneurs, anyway — is not the amount of money; there are certainly bigger deals out there. No, the interesting part is that Hesky Kutscher and Greg Goff, who co-founded MotherKnows in late 2010, got this very tangible vote of confidence on little more than an idea.

But, as Kutscher is quick to point out, it isn’t your idea that counts; it’s how well you sell that idea.

Tip #1: First, find the right problem.

“The most important thing is not the idea,” Kutscher says. “It’s finding an interesting problem in an interesting space.”

The MotherKnows idea is powerful largely because it’s so easy to understand: Give parents 24-hour access to their children’s health records.

“We hope to give parents the ability to pull up their child’s entire medical history whenever they want,” says Kutscher, "which is sure to make for added efficiency when it comes to doctor’s visits, emergency care, insurance conversations – and yes, those dreaded registrations.”

Tip #2: Next, find the right people to validate the opportunity.

“You need to find people who know the space,” says Kutscher. "I’ll do that, and ask them to tell me why I’m completely out of my mind.

“For business justification, I talked with people who worked in subscription businesses, and people in the parenting space. I was able to find people who understood the space, whether they worked at an e-commerce site, or a doctor’s office, or maybe they were parents trying to cope.

“What they told me is, ‘We don’t know if it will work, but we don’t think you’re crazy.’”

Tip #3: Hustle, hustle, hustle.

“You need to speak to potential investors to find out what would be their objections,” Kutscher says.

“Most of it is just hustle, hustle, hustle. Go to industry events where you think investors will be, talk to them, tell them your idea.

“If they won’t talk to you, you should think twice about being an entrepreneur. Maybe you should find another line of work.”

Tip #4: Then, find the right people to build the solution.

“My partner came from Baby Center,” Kutscher says. "We were competitive in my last venture — High Gear Media — and I learned he was head of marketing at Baby Center. He clearly knew something that I didn’t.

“You need the right team to go attack the problem you’ve identified. The best team is young and hungry, with a mix of the old and experienced. I’m now in the latter group. But you want to find a team that has a mix of hunger and expertise.”

Tip #5: Nowadays, some things are much cheaper.

“$1.7 million is the smallest round I’ve ever raised in the last 12 years,” says Kutscher.

“Well, I guess that’s not completely true; when I started DailyShopper I was 26 years old. I went to friends and family, and started that with $100,000.”

A little history here: DailyShopper.com became ShopLocal after a merger, and then was acquired by Tribune and Gannett in 2004. In 2007, Kutscher founded High Gear Media, a large network of automotive sites and blogs.

Today’s environment is cheaper for startups, Kutscher says: “1999 was a lot more expensive than today, because back then you needed servers and other things that Amazon now provides. Amazon allows us to do things far cheaper than before. I’d say you’ll be spending 30 to 40 percent less.”

Tip #6: On the other hand, some things are deadly expensive.

“Hiring in Silicon Valley is not super cheap,” Kutscher says. "We want to make sure [the investment] lasts. I think you need to look at 12 months as the bare minimum.

“We expected to be profitable in 12 months, but my sense is that we will decide to reinvest, and that’s when we will go for a second round.”

MotherKnows now has seven employees. Kutscher says they’ll hire “one or two more, and that’s about it” for 2011.

Tip #7: Passion is a powerful hiring magnet.

So, how do you hire good people? “Winners want to be around other winners,” says Kutscher. "There’s no surprise there.

“As you’re starting off, you’ve got to show passion, and it needs to be infectious. If you’re able to show enough passion, you can bring qualified people to work with you.

“We can’t compete on salaries, but someone who’s thinking he wants to be at Facebook or Google is probably not the right guy for us anyway. Those aren’t startup companies; we need people who want a startup environment.”

Tip #8: Cut your losses quickly.

What does Kutscher consider to be his biggest mistake in in past businesses? “Not letting go of the bad apples fast enough,” he says.

“If someone is not working out, let them know quick. If someone is not getting the job done, you have to cut your losses.”

Tip #9: Don’t hire clones.

Interestingly, Kutscher says the best business advice he ever received was also in the HR realm:

“Don’t hire people who remind you of yourself,” he says, “because you want people to complement your skills, not to tell you what you want to hear”

Tip #10: The key to profitability is always more customers.

“The way subscription businesses work,” says Kutscher, "is that if you figure out to how to onboard customers, and you have a lifetime value, then the key is to figure out how to get more of them.

“At the end of the day, it’s how you onboard customers, making the sign-up process seamless — those are the things that are critical.”

Tip #11: Talk to your potential customers, and test pricing.

“Speak to your potential audience as much as you can,” Kutscher says. "Learn as much as you can about your audience and the business.

“Pricing involves a lot of testing; I don’t know if we have ours set yet. You want to A-B test a lot of different schemes and see what works.”

Tip #12: Understand marketing and sales first, then hire expertise.

“You have to do the initial marketing and sales yourself,” says Kutscher. "Understand the process, and once you can do it well, you can bring in other people.

“With sales you want to bring in someone young and hungry, or someone that has domain expertise — that’s far more important in sales than it is in development. But sell it a few times yourself, then bring in the outside talent.”

And where do you find that talent? “The best place to find them is from your competitors,” Kutscher says.

Tip #13: Always behave with an eye toward all futures.

“You’ve got to have real customers, and real revenues,” he says. “And be nice to your competitors, because they might end up being your buyers.”

Our “Big Brother” has been talking/thinking about this for years and remember Hitler. And, not so many years ago, there was talk about inserting chips into all newborns – social security number and whatever else.

IF this type of ‘thing’ could be controlled and how long before it becomes embedded in the skin. I think it is a great idea but, would it decrease the number of nurses needed? Might be interesting to follow. Thanks, Chappy.

Chip and skin: How hi-tech ‘tattoo’ will monitor patients’ vital signsBy Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:00 PM on 12th August 2011

Found at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-...

Monitoring a patient’s vital signs – such as temperature and heart rate – could soon be a simple as sticking on a tiny, wireless patch similar to a temporary tattoo.
Eliminating the bulky wiring and electrodes used in current monitors would make the devices more comfortable for patients, according to an international team of researchers who report their findings in today’s edition of the journal Science.
The researchers embedded electronic sensors in a film thinner than the diameter of a human hair, which was placed on a polyester backing like those used for the temporary tattoos popular with children.

Skin deep: The sensor is so thin it can be worn comfortably on the skin without the patient noticing it
The result was a sensor that was flexible enough to move with the skin and would adhere without adhesives.
The researchers said the test devices had remained in place for up to 24 hours.
Although normal shedding of skin cells would eventually cause the monitors to come off, the team believe the new device could remain in place for as long as two weeks.

‘What we are trying to do here is to really reshape and redefine electronics to look a lot more like the human body, in this case the surface layers of the skin,’ said John A. Rogers of the University of Illinois.

‘The goal is really to blur the distinction between electronics and biological tissue.’
In addition to monitoring patients in hospitals, other uses for the devices could include monitoring brain waves, muscle movement, sensing the larynx for speech, emitting heat to help heal wounds and perhaps even being made touch sensitive and placed on artificial limbs.

Changing face of electronics: the research team believe their new device merges electronics with the human body

The device will help fill the need for equipment that is more convenient and less stressful for patients, permitting easier and more reliable monitoring, said Zhenqiang Ma, an engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin, who was not part of the research team.

The electronic skin can simply be stuck on or peeled off like an adhesive bandage, he noted in a commentary on the report.
The team declined to speculate on how soon the electronic skin would be ready for market or what it would cost.
The monitor resembles a bandage and contains an antenna that could be used to transmit data, though a radio to do that transmitting has not yet been tested.

The current design has a small coil and could be powered by induction – by placing it near an electrical coil. This would permit intermittent use, and for longer-term monitoring a tiny battery or storage capacitor could be fitted.

The monitor does not use an adhesive, relying on a weak force that causes molecules and surfaces to stick together without interfering with motion. For longer-term use the electronic skin could be coated with an adhesive.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ltolmZTbYlg

Here’s a place to see cars covered in solar cells:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_solar_challenge

Cells from my former employer powered at least one winner of that race.

But the regular cost for those sort of space caliber cells (26+%) wouldn’t be realistic on a regular car. More moderately priced systems in design now are looking at delivering around 300 watts of power.

Also related to the Electric Cars ‘Achilles Heel’ is not just battery life and overall mileage, but that of heating and cooling. The early VW Beetle (WWII) experienced this shortcoming as the air cooled engine had no heated coolant to use for a heater core and thus warm the cars interior or clear ice from the windshield. The German engineers ended up using a propane or gas fueled heater (which caught fire a lot).

Industry Trends & Events . . .

New Battery May Lead to Revolution in Grid Storage
Changing batteries as we know them? It might be possible, thanks to a radically new approach to battery design developed by MIT researchers. Halving the size and cost of a complete battery system could make electric vehicles competitive with conventional gas-powered vehicles. The semi-solid flow battery could be recharged via conventional methods, or could also be “refueled” by pumping out the liquid slurry and pumping in a fully charged replacement. The technology could provide a cheaper, lighter alternative to existing batteries for both electric vehicles and the power grid, while spurring power demand to new heights due to proliferation of cars powered from the grid.

Found at: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/flow-batteri...

A radically new approach to the design of batteries, developed by researchers at MIT, could provide a lightweight and inexpensive alternative to existing batteries for electric vehicles and the power grid. The technology could even make “refueling” such batteries as quick and easy as pumping gas into a conventional car.

The new battery relies on an innovative architecture called a semi-solid flow cell, in which solid particles are suspended in a carrier liquid and pumped through the system. In this design, the battery’s active components — the positive and negative electrodes, or cathodes and anodes — are composed of particles suspended in a liquid electrolyte. These two different suspensions are pumped through systems separated by a filter, such as a thin porous membrane.

The work was carried out by Mihai Duduta ’10 and graduate student Bryan Ho, under the leadership of professors of materials science W. Craig Carter and Yet-Ming Chiang. It is described in a paper published May 20 in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. The paper was co-authored by visiting research scientist Pimpa Limthongkul ’02, postdoc Vanessa Wood ’10 and graduate student Victor Brunini ’08.

One important characteristic of the new design is that it separates the two functions of the battery — storing energy until it is needed, and discharging that energy when it needs to be used — into separate physical structures. (In conventional batteries, the storage and discharge both take place in the same structure.) Separating these functions means that batteries can be designed more efficiently, Chiang says.

The new design should make it possible to reduce the size and the cost of a complete battery system, including all of its structural support and connectors, to about half the current levels. That dramatic reduction could be the key to making electric vehicles fully competitive with conventional gas- or diesel-powered vehicles, the researchers say.

Another potential advantage is that in vehicle applications, such a system would permit the possibility of simply “refueling” the battery by pumping out the liquid slurry and pumping in a fresh, fully charged replacement, or by swapping out the tanks like tires at a pit stop, while still preserving the option of simply recharging the existing material when time permits.

Flow batteries have existed for some time, but have used liquids with very low energy density (the amount of energy that can be stored in a given volume). Because of this, existing flow batteries take up much more space than fuel cells and require rapid pumping of their fluid, further reducing their efficiency.

The new semi-solid flow batteries pioneered by Chiang and colleagues overcome this limitation, providing a 10-fold improvement in energy density over present liquid flow-batteries, and lower-cost manufacturing than conventional lithium-ion batteries. Because the material has such a high energy density, it does not need to be pumped rapidly to deliver its power. “It kind of oozes,” Chiang says. Because the suspensions look and flow like black goo and could end up used in place of petroleum for transportation, Carter says, “We call it ‘Cambridge crude.’”

The key insight by Chiang’s team was that it would be possible to combine the basic structure of aqueous-flow batteries with the proven chemistry of lithium-ion batteries by reducing the batteries’ solid materials to tiny particles that could be carried in a liquid suspension — similar to the way quicksand can flow like a liquid even though it consists mostly of solid particles. “We’re using two proven technologies, and putting them together,” Carter says.

In addition to potential applications in vehicles, the new battery system could be scaled up to very large sizes at low cost. This would make it particularly well-suited for large-scale electricity storage for utilities, potentially making intermittent, unpredictable sources such as wind and solar energy practical for powering the electric grid.

The team set out to “reinvent the rechargeable battery,” Chiang says. But the device they came up with is potentially a whole family of new battery systems, because it’s a design architecture that “is not linked to any particular chemistry.” Chiang and his colleagues are now exploring different chemical combinations that could be used within the semi-solid flow system. “We’ll figure out what can be practically developed today,” Chiang says, “but as better materials come along, we can adapt them to this architecture.”

Yury Gogotsi, Distinguished University Professor at Drexel University and director of Drexel’s Nanotechnology Institute, says, “The demonstration of a semi-solid lithium-ion battery is a major breakthrough that shows that slurry-type active materials can be used for storing electrical energy.” This advance, he says, “has tremendous importance for the future of energy production and storage.”

Gogotsi cautions that making a practical, commercial version of such a battery will require research to find better cathode and anode materials and electrolytes, but adds, “I don’t see fundamental problems that cannot be addressed — those are primarily engineering issues. Of course, developing working systems that can compete with currently available batteries in terms of cost and performance may take years.”

Chiang, whose earlier insights on lithium-ion battery chemistries led to the 2001 founding of MIT spinoff A123 Systems, says the two technologies are complementary, and address different potential applications. For example, the new semi-solid flow batteries will probably never be suitable for smaller applications such as tools, or where short bursts of very high power are required — areas where A123’s batteries excel.

The new technology is being licensed to a company called 24M Technologies, founded last summer by Chiang and Carter along with entrepreneur Throop Wilder, who is the company’s president. The company has already raised more than $16 million in venture capital and federal research financing.

The development of the technology was partly funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). Continuing research on the technology is taking place partly at 24M, where some recent MIT graduates who worked on the project are part of the team; at MIT, where professors Angela Belcher and Paula Hammond are co-investigators; and at Rutgers, with Professor Glenn Amatucci.

The target of the team’s ongoing work, under a three-year ARPA-E grant awarded in September 2010, is to have, by the end of the grant period, “a fully-functioning, reduced-scale prototype system,” Chiang says, ready to be engineered for production as a replacement for existing electric-car batteries.

Texas Instruments’ MSP430 microcontrollers featuring FRAM, available at Digi-Key, are 100x faster than flash when writing, have virtually unlimited write endurance, operate at under 100 µA/MHz in active power mode, and have true unified memory. They are backwards code compatible with all MSP430 devices and eliminate the need for EEPROM.

The MSP430FR572x and MSP430FR573x devices are microcontroller configurations with up to five 16-bit timers, comparator, universal serial communication interfaces (eUSCI) supporting UART, SPI, and I2C, hardware multiplier, DMA, real-time clock module with alarm capabilities, up to 33 I/O pins, and an optional high-performance 10-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

Worldwide Networks on the Brink
Mobile wireless networks are near capacity, according to a new survey from investment bank Credit Suisse. Mobile networks in North America are filled to 80% of capacity, with 36% of base stations facing capacity constraints. The North American networks were 72% used just two years ago. Carriers expect the rate to ease back down to that point within two years as North American service providers report that they are likely to buy more equipment to…

Found at http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/2...

Survey: Wireless Networks Are Near Capacity
By Stephen Lawson, IDG News

Mobile networks in North America are filled to 80 percent of capacity, with 36 percent of base stations facing capacity constraints, according to a survey by investment bank Credit Suisse.

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Don’t Abandon Your Website Just Yet.Networks in other regions also are more than 50 percent utilized, with the global average at 65 percent, Credit Suisse said after surveying carriers around the world. That level of use matches the average “threshold” rate that would trigger the service providers to start buying more network equipment, the report said. Looking ahead, on average the carriers expected their utilization rate to grow to 70 percent within 12 months.

Credit Suisse used the results to predict new sales by makers of cellular equipment, such as Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei Technologies. But at a certain level, heavy use of a base station can also affect the mobile experience of individual subscribers. The survey found that 23 percent of base stations worldwide had capacity constraints (defined as a utilization rate over 80 percent during busy hours), while 36 percent in North America were under that kind of pressure.

The North American networks were 72 percent utilized two years ago. The region’s carriers expect the rate to ease back down to that point within two years. North American service providers are likely to buy more equipment soon, because having their networks 74 percent filled is the threshold rate in that region, the survey said.

Asia’s Status
Asia’s mobile networks are also getting more filled, rising from 54 percent utilization two years ago to 62 percent in 2011. But Western European networks are getting less constrained, falling from 66 percent to 56 percent. Both regions will be well over 60 percent within two years, however. Latin America’s mobile networks will hit 85 percent average utilization within a year, according to the survey.

Data services are driving the growth in network usage and in turn account for most of the growth in average revenue per user to the carriers. Credit Suisse forecast worldwide data revenue to grow by 11.7 percent this year while voice revenue falls 4.4 percent and SMS (Short Message Service) revenue declines 3.3 percent. Last year, average data revenue per user increased 25.6 percent.

Mobile operators’ capital expenditures are expected to grow 10 percent this year, despite downward pressure on prices for the pieces of equipment they are buying. Capital spending is likely to increase everywhere but in Western Europe, the survey showed. The largest share of that will be spent on radio-access network equipment, rather than back-end infrastructure.

Chinese vendors, especially Huawei, are likely to keep gaining share over the next few years, according to Credit Suisse. The report forecast Chinese manufacturers growing from 32 percent of the market now to 42 percent in three years. But deeper success in the U.S. and Western Europe may be hard for those vendors to achieve, the report said. Meanwhile, Ericsson, already the biggest mobile infrastructure leader with 36 percent of the world market, is likely to grow to 40 percent in the coming years, Credit Suisse said. This is partly due to the company’s early lead in winning LTE (Long-Term Evolution) contracts, the report said.